Youth Indicators 1996 / Indicator 3

Indicator 3. Marriage

Number and rate of marriages and median age at first marriage: 1950 to 1993

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                                      Number of first marriages   Median age at
                         Number of     per 1,000 never-married   first marriage
           Number of    marriages1/            women
  Year    marriages,1/   per 1,000   ---------------------------
              in         unmarried   18 and 19 20 to 24 25 to 44  Male    Female
           thousands   women2/ 15 to   years    years    years
                       44 years old     old      old      old
---------------------------------------------------------------- -----------------
1950 ....       1,667         166.4       ---      ---      ---    22.8      20.3
1955 ....       1,531         161.1       ---      ---      ---    22.6      20.2
1960 ....       1,523         148.0     208.4    263.9      ---    22.8      20.3
1965 ....       1,800         144.3     166.9    237.3     96.4    22.8      20.6
1970 ....       2,159         140.2     151.4    220.1     82.5    23.2      20.8
1975 ....       2,153         118.5     115.0    143.8     81.7    23.5      21.1
1980 ....       2,390         102.6      87.3    119.8     74.9    24.7      22.0
1981 ....       2,422         103.1      80.7    110.0     79.3    24.8      22.3
1982 ....       2,456         101.9      78.5    111.9     80.7    25.2      22.5
1983 ....       2,446          99.3      72.6    106.9     79.2    25.4      22.8
1984 ....       2,477          99.0      72.1    104.4     80.5    25.4      23.0
1985 ....       2,413          94.9      67.2    102.1     79.0    25.5      23.3
1986 ....       2,407          93.9      63.7     99.6     79.1    25.7      23.1
1987 ....       2,403          92.4      57.8     97.8     80.1    25.8      23.6
1988 ....       2,396          91.0      55.6     97.9     79.1    25.9      23.6
1989 ....       2,404          92.1       ---      ---      ---    26.2      23.8
1990 ....       2,448          93.3       ---      ---      ---    26.1      23.9
1991 ....       2,371          90.0       ---      ---      ---    26.3      24.1
1992 ....       2,362          88.2       ---      ---      ---    26.5      24.4
1993 ....       2,334          86.8       ---      ---      ---    26.5      24.5
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-Data not available.

/1/ Includes remarriages.

/2/ Includes never married, divorced, and widowed women.

SOURCES: U.S. Department of Commerce, Bureau of the Census, Statistical Abstract of the United States, various years; Historical Statistics of the United States to 1975; Current Population Reports, Series P-20, Household and Family Characteristics, no. 349, and Marital Status and Living Arrangements, nos. 468 and 478; U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, National Center for Health Statistics, Monthly Vital Statistics Report, various years; and Vital Statistics of the United States, various years.

Indicator chart and text.

[Indicator 2. Population Projections of Young People] [Indicator 4. Divorce]